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Friday, August 3, 2012

An article in the UK Guardian reports how
delays for work permits are damaging the employment opportunities for Romanian
students. One student, Emilia Gheorghe, described how, as a second-year
university student, she should be beginning work at a summer school, trying to
boost her CV and help her obtain post-graduate employment. Instead, she is
forced to wait for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to process her application for a
work permit. She submitted her application over eighteen months ago, and she
still has not heard a decision. This delay has forced her into limbo, without
permission to work, and she is missing valuable opportunities as a result.

The situation that Gheorghe is in is not
unique. At least a few dozen other Romanian students studying in the UK have
experienced extraordinary delays in the processing of their visa applications.
Without the visa, students are not able to work part-time jobs to support
themselves, and obtain jobs in their field to gain experience that could be
crucial when it comes to starting a career. Various complaints have been lodged
by the students to the UKBA, and a formal petition was filed, stating, “If the
United Kingdom . . . would like to continue setting a high educational standard
and attracting the best and brightest from across the glob, the UKBA needs to
guarantee that it will process visa applications in a timely, transparent, and
effective manner.”

When Romania and Bulgaria were accepted into
the EU in 2007, there was an initial gradual transition period, where they were
not allowed to work. However, after a few years, students obtained permission
to work f they could provide a registration certificate confirming that they
are students. The UKBA has promised to process these applications quickly, but
students are experiencing a significant delay.

Ireland has recently lifted all restrictions on
Romanian and Bulgarian workers, meaning that they now have total access to the
labor market, but the UKBA has issued statements saying that it intends to keep
the restrictions on the labor market in place until January 1, 2014, keeping
them until the end of the seven-year transition period.